French? German? Bahasa Malaysia?

Regardless of where you do your research on Fletcher, you should be aware that all students must pass a language proficiency exam to graduate. The information is included among the degree requirements on the Fletcher website, and for those who like to dig through the blog archives, I’ve also written about it many times

So it is a little surprising how many applicants this year have failed to tell us about their language proficiency by filling out the application completely. Sometimes there’s a cultural element. Folks from India who have studied in English throughout their academic career just assume we’ll know that they speak Hindi or another Indian language. The same is often true for applicants from Anglophone African countries.

But I’m not sure why other native English speakers (particularly U.S. students) aren’t giving us the details we need. We’ll need to look at this over the summer when we do our annual review of the application form. Meanwhile, we’re studying transcripts and résumés, searching for crumbs of information on language study. Does this post make you realize you made a strategic mistake in leaving out your language proficiency details? Send us a note to update us. For students to whom we offer admission, it could be the difference between a regular admission offer and being required to pursue further language study before enrolling.